Pet Names · Dog Names
Literary Dog Names
Across 18 pages
of 18
Hemingway
English place name
No matter how much you love the novels of Papa H., don't saddle your son with this unwieldy appellation.
Heathcliff
English
"cliff near a heath"
Heathcliff is the name of the original passionate macho hero of Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights , and also of the cartoon cat. It was chosen by fashionista Lucy Sykes for her son, and inspired the…
Honoria
Latin
"woman of honor"
This is an eighteenth century elaboration of Honor found in Charles Dickens ( Bleak House ) but rarely heard here and now.
Huckleberry
Word name and literary name
Everybody knows Huckleberry Finn, the Mark Twain character named, Twain said, for the 19th century slang term for "humble." A few modern parents have put it on a birth certificate, including "Man Vs.…
Bly
English surname name
"friendly"
The surname of enterprising journalist Nellie Bly and poet Robert Bly makes a simple, modern, and upbeat sounding choice for either a boy or a girl.
Haydée
Literary name
"modest, reverent"
The name of the enslaved girl in Dumas' The Count of Monte Cristo , this literary name sounds a little like a modern invention. However, it is in fact related to another time-honored literary heroine…
Hyacinth
Flower name, from Greek
"blue larkspur; precious stone"
Though it may not be as sweet and gentle as, say, Violet, the purple-hued Hyacinth still might hold some appeal for the parent seeking a truly unusual flower name. In Greek mythology, Hyacinthus was…
Harte
English
"stag"
Most often spelled without the final "e"--unless you're a particular fan of writer Bret.
Isolde
Welsh, German
"ice ruler"
Sleek, sharp, and soulful, Isolde is the German form of Iseult, the fabled lover of Tristan in the Arthurian romances. First appearing in the 12th-century, the name was fairly popular in the form of…
Jacy
This variation of Jacey was the name of the gorgeous small-town heroine of Larry McMurtry's The Last Picture Show .
Blue
Color name
Blue suddenly came into the spotlight, as the unusual color name chosen by Beyonce and Jay-Z for their baby girl Blue Ivy. Blue is also a starbaby middle name du jour, used for both sexes in…
Japhy
Diminutive of Japheth
"he expands"
Japhy Ryder was a hero of Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums . Compared with Moses and Noah, Japhy sounds downright adorable and eminently baby-worthy.
Charmian
Greek
"joy"
This name was used by Shakespeare (who got it from Plutarch) in Antony and Cleopatra for one of the attendants of the Egyptian queen. An interesting possibility, it is heard occasionally in the UK,…
Brick
Word name, various origins
This is an Anglicized form of various names; the Irish Gaelic O Bruic; German, Bruck or Breck, meaning "swamp" or "wood"; Yiddish, Brik, "bridge"; and Slovenian, Bric, "dweller from a hilly place."…